E N G LI S H
UNV PARTNERING WITH UN-HABITAT The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a long-standing partner of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). More than 170 UN Volunteers have served with UN-Habitat in 30 countries over the past seven years, supporting UN-Habitat in delivering on its mandate of coordinating human settlement activities. Why recruit UN Volunteers? National UN Volunteer Natacha Judy, a Social Mobilization Specialist with UN-Habitat, discusses restoration projects with community members at a Community Resources Center in Bristou Bobin, Haiti. (Jose Rendee Torres/UNV, 2012)
United Nations Volunteers are global citizens motivated to contribute to peace and sustainable development. Working with United Nations entities, governments, civil society and the private sector, UN Volunteers use their experience and talent to bring people to the forefront of development and give them a voice.
inclusiveness, advance UN-Habitat’s efforts to promote the participation of communities and civil society in urban planning, disaster risk reduction and rehabilitation. This includes a focus on advancing gender equity and helping youth gain access to the knowledge and skills they need for better employability.
UN Volunteers are one of the talent-management solutions available to the UN system. UNV manages this cost-effective talent pool of volunteers who can be deployed to work in synergy with the staff and personnel of United Nations entities to bolster the effective delivery of their programmes and mandates.
What is the added value of UN Volunteers? Close to 81 per cent of UN Volunteers come from the South. Thus, UN Volunteers tend to be familiar with local development challenges and societal norms. UN Volunteers apply culturally-sensitive approaches that foster participation and generate a sense of ownership. Through engaging community volunteers and strengthening
UN Volunteers are particularly suited to support UNHabitat’s mandate. They work within communities at the grassroots level, making them well-placed to build community resilience to climate change impacts. UN Volunteers, by the very nature of volunteerism’s
2007-2013
Top 3 countries of assignment
Top 3 countries of origin
2007-2013
172 UN Volunteers, 62 international 110 national, served in 30 countries
53%
47%
71
24
19
72
9
7
Brazil
Kenya
Kosovo
Brazil
Italy
Kenya
Top 3 professional titles in 2007
Top 3 professional titles in 2013
Planning Advisor
8
Socio-economic Assistant
55
Engineering Assistant
7
Urban Development Officer
12
Urban Development Officer
3
Project Manager
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6
“ “UN Volunteers make an important contribution to UN-Habitat’s work towards sustainable urbanization. Our world is becoming increasingly urban and the efforts of our UN Volunteers contribute to improving the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities in the world.” Thomas Melin, UN-Habitat External Relations
local volunteering structures, UN Volunteers help make development more effective and sustainable. providing additional learning and guidance so that they are well supported throughout their assignments in areas such as primary health, education, climate change adaptation and human rights.
UNV is committed to reaching out to youth and bringing their voices to the table in a rapidly changing world. The United Nations Secretary-General has made working with and for young people one of his top priorities in his Fiveyear Action Agenda, announced at the beginning of 2012. UNV is leading the way on youth volunteerism within the UN with the establishment of a UN Youth Volunteer Programme. Based on the UN Youth Volunteering Strategy launched in September 2013, this programme will start in 2014 and help build the capacities of young people, while at the same time tapping into the energy, unique strengths and perspectives of youth.
What categories of UN Volunteers are available to UN-Habitat?
UNV also offers an innovative short-term UN Volunteer modality through which volunteers can be contracted for assignments of less than three months. This option may be useful for rapid deployment in many areas, such as shoring up emergency responses, census activities, and in general for projects that require a quick scaling up or rapid adaptation to changing circumstances. The short-term modality often suits diaspora nationals, the corporate sector and retirees. It allows partners to have an agile, flexible and adaptable talent solution when specific skill sets are required for a defined period.
There are different categories of UN Volunteers, each with its own characteristics, which offer flexible solutions to the needs of our United Nations partners. UN Volunteers serve on contracts lasting three to twelve months on a renewable basis for assignments of up to four years, depending on the category of volunteer.
Another modality that can provide strategic support to partners is UNV Online Volunteering, a rapidly growing service of UNV. Over 11,000 UN Online Volunteers conduct 15,000 assignments over the Internet annually to bolster peace and development activities of United Nations entities, governments and civil society organizations.
International UN Volunteers are typically professionals with specialized knowledge. They come from all walks of life and over 100 professions, bringing five to ten years of experience to their assignments. The average age of international UN Volunteers is 38.
In all the above categories, the very nature of volunteering for the United Nations inspires and attracts exceptionally motivated specialists and youth – people dedicated to advancing global peace and sustainable human development. Irrespective of the modality through which they serve, UN Volunteers come from all geographic regions and socio-economic backgrounds.
National UN Volunteers are nationals of the host country (or a refugee or stateless person with legal status in the country), normally recruited locally. These volunteers concentrate in areas such as local community outreach. Recent university graduates with specialized skills are also recruited as national UN Volunteers.
How can UN-Habitat offices recruit UN Volunteers? To partner with UNV and recruit UN Volunteers who will help you implement your development initiatives, contact the UNV Programme Officer based in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country office. The UNV Programme Officer can provide advice and guidance on how to recruit volunteers for assignments relevant to UN-Habitat.
UN Youth Volunteers are between the ages of 1829 and may be engaged for national and international assignments of up to two years. UN Youth Volunteer candidates will have demonstrated their commitment to global peace and sustainable development through academic, extra-curricular and volunteer activities they have undertaken and/or up to two years of formal work experience. UNV supports these young volunteers by
http://www.un
v.org/partners/
For further information, refer to Hosting a UN Volunteer: An Orientation Guide at www.unv.org/partners/hostinga-un-volunteer.html.
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UNV-UN-HABITAT
success stories
Reconstructing Haiti, one volunteer at a time After the devastating earthquake of 2010, the Government of Haiti identified the urgent need to reduce the vulnerability of the population. There was a need not only to rebuild the country, but also to strengthen capacities to better prevent, mitigate and respond to future disasters. A Caribbean island country, Haiti is prone to a wide range of natural phenomena – earthquakes and cyclones among them. Coupled with difficult socio-economic conditions, the Haitian population is exposed to high levels of risk. With this in mind, UNDP established a Disaster Risk Reduction Unit and launched a programme in support of the National Disaster Risk Management System. UNV provided three international UN Volunteers based in Port-au-Prince and nine national UN Volunteers spread across the country, all serving as Disaster Risk Reduction Experts. Some UN Volunteers worked on donor advocacy, external communications and inter-institutional coordination. Others conducted simulation exercises, documented lessons learned, and facilitated thematic groups on protection, shelter and awareness. Wadson Montisino Cledanor, a trained agronomist, was a national UNV Technical Coordination Assistant in the south of the country. As tropical cyclone Tomas threatened the island in November 2010, Wadson coordinated activities to inform and assist people to prepare for the storm and helped contain an existing cholera epidemic. “I am proud of my work as a UN
Volunteer,” Wadson said, “because I have the opportunity to serve the most vulnerable communities in my own country and I get the chance to encourage others to become volunteers and contribute to the development of Haiti.” UNV provided an additional international and three national UN Volunteers in Haiti to work with UN-Habitat in creating emergency plans and returning people to safe houses and neighbourhoods. The volunteers helped set up ten emergency community and shelter centres in the greater Port-au-Prince area, among other things. The centres aim to strengthen the capacity of local communities to articulate their needs. Natacha Jeudy, a national UN Volunteer specializing in social mobilization, manages the resource centre in the Bristou Bobin neighbourhood. She sees it as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the coordination of technical assistance and information for community leaders, community organizations and households. “When I arrived, participation was limited,” explains Natacha. “Thanks to the guidance I’ve been providing, we have started to see a lot more people voluntarily taking part in the activities, especially women.” This last point, she says, makes her especially proud. “Community participation makes the recovery process inclusive, participatory and broadly owned,” Natacha notes.
Advancing peace by promoting community volunteering During the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a delegation from UNV and UN-Habitat visited the Cantagalo favela. The Pacifying Police Units social initiative of the city of Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with UN-Habitat, aims to improve urban, social and economic integration in urban areas. The initiative includes volunteerism components that are implemented in partnership with UNV. Fifty-seven youth from the ‘comunidades pacificadas’ (pacified communities) support the project as UN Volunteers. The 57 UN Volunteers all come from Cantagalo
itself and are engaged in the renewal of their own community. They gather information on the needs of the community, for example in electricity and sanitary facilities, and provide this information to public authorities. Although conditions are still difficult, this social initiative, through the crucial involvement of UN Volunteers from within their own communities, has greatly improved living conditions in Cantagalo. It is now a pacified community where people can go about their daily activities with less fear of violence.
UN Volunteer Rogeria Nascimento Jorge at work, gathering information on her community’s needs. In Brazil, the Pacifying Police Units social initiative of the city of Rio de Janiero, in partnership with UN-Habitat, aims to improve urban, social and economic integration in urban areas through the deployment of UN Volunteers. (Didier Gentilhomme/UNV, 2012)
Empowering youth to promote environmental health education David Sanchez (Spain), a 26-year-old student of Environmental Sciences, served as a UN Volunteer with UN-Habitat in Ecuador for six months, assigned to a Joint Programme on Local Governance for Water and Sanitation.
David started his work at a national school in the Rocafuerte canton, working with about 25 pupils aged 12-15 to form a youth group that would carry out environmental health education campaigns.
David established alliances with local actors for the creation of an Ecological Youth Club in Manabi, a province with challenges in drinking water supply and sanitation. “The programme works with established development institutions and organizations, and I wanted to work more at the grassroots level and generate community action”, David explains.
“The Ecological Club organized activities to sensitize the community about the adequate use of water in homes and schools. It also encouraged the community to take good care of water sources, identifying which are the most commonly polluting elements,” says Bruno Bellettini, UNDP Coordinator of the Programme on Local Governance for Water and Sanitation in Manabi. “Those who benefited from David’s work were inspired by his creativity and enthusiasm and are keen to encourage the volunteering spirit in youth.”
Although environmental issues are addressed in the education system, including a subject on environmental education, David thinks that what was lacking was the drive for youth to get involved. “I think my main contribution has been empowering youth to act, helping them realize that they can do something”, David says. “They have realized that it is possible to go to the municipality, talk to the mayor and demand certain services. They have realized that they are actually listened to and their demands taken into account – they are, after all, those who will lead the canton in the future.”
The UN World Youth Report 2003 outlined the special concerns and responsibilities youth have in relation to the environment. “A number of environmental risks and hazards disproportionately affect young people, who have to live for an extended period with the deteriorating environment bequeathed to them by earlier generations. Young people will be compelled to engage in new forms of action and activism that will generate effective responses to ecological challenges.” Volunteerism gives them this opportunity.
UN Volunteers build community resilience to climate change, enhance inclusive participation and engagement of civil society, secure access to basic social services, prepare young people for the workforce and increase their employability, advance gender equality, and so much more.
Is your office investing in UN Volunteers? The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming and mobilizing volunteers.
UNV (March 2014)
UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For more information about UNV, please visit www.unv.org.
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